8 May - In Banff - Day 4 of TCE

I woke up after 4 am to complete certain documentation before the Icefields Parkway tour pick up. When I was at it I noticed a few elk feeding on the grass in the YWCA compound. They seemed voraciously hungry and ready to feed on all the grass in the area. The elk belongs to the deer family but is bigger than a stag but smaller than a moose. After breakfast of muesli, milk and oranges I was ready for the fantasy experience. The pick-up vehicle arrived after 8 am and it was from Banff Tours. There were four couples besides me in the 24-seater bus and the driver cum guide, Neil, introduced himself at some length when we started the trip. He also asked us to briefly mention our names and where we came from. Two families were from Australia and two other from UK.

Along the 160 plus km to the Athabasca Glacier Neil kept supplying nuggets of information about the National Parks and a lot more. I think a brief recap of them is in order. The Banff National Park is the oldest in Canada, having been established in 1885 and covering over 6500 square km in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The park has numerous river systems, glaciers, coniferous forests and ice fields. The Icefields Parkway, the tour of which I was doing, stretched from Lake Louise to Jasper National Park. The setting up of the park was almost co-terminus with the building of the CP railway system from the West to the East through the Rockies. Presently the National Park along the highway is fully fenced to avoid any animals being killed – casualty rate was 200 animals per annum before the fencing. However, the highway cut the park into two. Therefore, to provide a seamless ecosystem to the animals 4 over passes and 38 tunnels were set up for the animals to cross from one side to the other without fear of being hurt or killed. The movement of animals is monitored using sensor triggered cameras, special sand that capture paw prints and barbed wire that takes fur samples.

The TCH is reportedly the longest paved highway in the world and the heavy traffic on the highway is considered to be the highest through any national park in the world. All through the drive Neil pointed out various mountains and added information about it. One such was about the Castle Mountain. Apparently during the visit of D.Eisenhower, the former President of USA, to Canada the Castle Mountain was renamed Eisenhower Peak. Soon there was a public outcry against the renaming as the President had spent his time playing golf than even caring to visit the peak. Castle Mountain soon got back its original name.

The Columbia Icefields is a large expanse of 325 square km having depths ranging from 100 to 350 meters, has over 200 glaciers in it and receives more than 7 meters of snowfall every year. Glaciers can be distinguished from regular snow by the blue tinge they have. Glaciers melt and provide the head water for most river systems. The Bow glacier is the origin of the Bow River. On the way there were numerous stoppages for photographs and the most I liked were the ones at the frozen lakes Hector and Bow. The ice was thin and walking on it was tricky. A couple of tourists went knee deep and had some trouble pulling themselves back. The reflection of Sun from the snow was so strong as to hurt the eyes.

Neil explained that the climatic conditions are so harsh that very few animals and trees survived it. There were hardly 200 bears in the entire national park of which 60 per cent were black bears and the rest grizzlies. The trees looked small and stunted. It was astounding to be told that most of the trees were between 300 and 400 years old. Poor soil conditions and the harsh weather kept them that way. Another piece of interesting information was about the colour of water in the lakes and river. The shimmer and hue were the result of rock flour that were washed into the water bodies through glacial activity.

Neil decided to distribute lunch at the Saskatchewan river crossing because it had a lovely picnic place and adequate toilets. The river crossing was an important trading post in the past for people going through to British Columbia. Neil mentioned the yeoman services of David Thomson in mapping the rivers between 1785 and 1812. When the name was mentioned I reconnected with the Riverside Park in Kamloops which lay on the confluence of the Thomson Rivers. The pioneering work went largely unrecognised till more than a century later.

Through all this interesting talk, scenic drive and photography sessions a lot of information was gained and we reached the Athabasca Glacier and skywalk centre without ever feeling that we had travelled over 180 km. At the Discovery Centre Neil got us the ticket for the skywalk and arranged for transportation to the Glacier. The group was transported to the place where the Ice Explorers were parked in a 56 seater bus that belonged to the Brewster Company that ran the facility at the glacier. The Ice Explorer is a humongous transport vehicle, the like of which are only 24 in the whole world. Of this 22 are in Athabasca and the balance are in Antarctica. Page, the comely girl who was behind the wheel of the Ice Explorer, mentioned that each vehicle cost over C$ 2 million and the 5 feet high tyres cost C$ 6000 apiece with each vehicle having 6 of them. The drive down to the glacier in the glass topped vehicle is not for the faint-hearted. The sheer drop can only be taken by the traction of such a vehicle and its top speed is 15 kph. On the way to the glacier I came across a new term – Moraine. It is used to denote glacial debris.  There are lateral and terminal moraines depending on whether they are at the side or foot of the ice flow. The size of moraines can vary from boulders to glacial flour.

The Athabasca glacier is one of the six principal toes of the Columbia Icefields and is the most visited glacier in North America. It is documented to having receded by half in the past century and a quarter. The glacier cannot be reached beyond a certain point because of hidden crevasses. It is said that many tourists in the past have disappeared without a trace. Today the edge of safe tourism is marked, beyond which tourists are prohibited to go. I was so proud to see an Indian flag at the glacier and it was an hour to take a picture holding the tri-colour.

The Discovery Center vehicle dropped me off for the skywalk which is a km walk on an informative board walk. The elliptical glass bottomed skywalk is over a 300 metre drop over the Sunwapta Valley. It took me quite some time to adapt to watching the chasm beneath and walking ahead. It was indeed a most exhilarating experience. Of course, the Grand Canyon skywalk was a more challenging one.  Once this was done it was time to get back to the tour coach for the trip back to Banff. I slept most of the way back having spent all my energies during the stupendous day. The most important fact was that the weather was glorious all through the day. Not a drop of rain fell nor did the clouds or mist play spoil sport. All in all, a most wonderful excursion.